An overview of the research In November 2009, considerable interest was generated by a study day of the National Association of Principal Educational Psychologists (NAPEP) on evaluation of outcomes of the work of Educational Psychology Services (EPSs). Following this, my service requested that I investigate this area during my training placement, as a topic for my doctoral research. A review of the literature and professional networking sites (for example, EPNET) revealed that although many services at the time were considering or actively seeking valid and reliable ‘tools’ to evaluate services, using both qualitative and quantitative approaches, in practice, few were undertaking evaluation systematically, and those that were did not feel confident that they were doing it well. While a number of services were regularly collecting data on how much service (quantity) they were delivering, to whom and in what ways, and on the subjective experience for a range of service users, few were focussing on outcomes, and even fewer were measuring these in any systematic way (Norgate, 2010). My service was one of those that already collected data on delivery in terms of quantity and subjective quality, and they had just introduced Target Monitoring and Evaluation (TME) (Dunsmuir, Brown, Iyadurai and Monsen, 2009), as a goals-based approach to informing service delivery, and a way of recording consultation and engagement with children, families and schools. While this was a positive step towards more systematic evaluation, it was noted that a missing dimension was what the children themselves felt about the outcome of engagement with an EP, and whether they felt that things had been improved in domains that were significant to them. While there was considerable interest in hearing children’s voices driven by international agreements, legislation, policy initiatives and research, a review of the literature suggested that engaging with children in meaningful ways, and eliciting valid views, was a challenging endeavour. This was particularly true for certain groups of children and young people; those with additional needs, particularly those with profound and multiple difficulties or severe language difficulties, and also for the youngest children in the pre-school and primary years. The two research studies presented here aimed to begin to redress that balance. I chose to focus on the collective voice of local children aged 7 – 11 years in Key Stage 2 (KS2), in mainstream primary schools, and of all abilities, including children with additional needs at all three stages of the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice. My reason for this was to ascertain the views of ‘typical’ children in mainstream education, so that they might be better understood by adults (presented in Paper 1), and in order to produce a general measure (presented in Paper 2), which could later be modified and refined, as appropriate, for other groups, for example, younger age groups, or children with more significant difficulties. Paper 1 briefly reviews the literature on hearing children’s voices, some of the difficulties encountered in this enterprise, and approaches that have been proposed to overcome these, including attempts to actively involve them in decision making and research about issues that affect their lives. The findings of a selection of studies, which have explored what children and young people have identified as being important factors in their school lives, are presented. The qualitative research study that follows is informed by this review of the selected literature. The approach is informed by ‘positive psychology’, with an explicit focus on ‘what works’, while not denying or ignoring what children say does not work for them. Forty primary school children in Key stage 2 were interviewed using a range of approaches. The children were recruited from local schools with differing demographics in the South West of the United Kingdom. The research approach was pragmatic, and adopted a critical realist perspective and mixed methodology. A thematic analysis was carried out to explore children’s understandings of what helped them to learn at school (Paper 1), and these understandings were subsequently used within a realist approach to develop a tool co-designed with the children (Paper 2). The approach was also inductive, being driven by the data rather than theory. The aim was to put the children at the centre of the research, not just as participants, but as collaborators and co-constructors of the interpretations made of their ‘talk’, and of the subsequent design of a ‘tool’ to facilitate helpful conversations about what they might like to change, and to subsequently measure any impact of interventions. The interview data were analysed using a thematic approach, and the findings were discussed, modified and validated through focus groups with the original interviewees. A thematic network or ‘map of the child’s-eye view’ is presented. A descriptive reading of three emerging topics; academic competence, social competence and social recognition, is offered and discussed, and exemplified by original quotes from the children. (Due to the word limit, additional descriptive analysis is presented in the appendices). Finally, at a deeper level of analysis, two overarching themes, ‘competence’ and ‘connectedness’ are suggested as having emerged from the data. The results of the thematic analysis are linked to previous research, and it is proposed that, while this is only one possible reading of the data presented, there are significant resonances with data collected for children and young people across cultures and age ranges. Therefore findings may tentatively be generalised beyond the local culture. The implications of the findings for EP practice are discussed. In Paper 2, the previous study is used to inform the design of a measure to assess children’s satisfaction with their school life, in terms of issues that are important to them. Current literature on evaluating outcomes in EP services is briefly reviewed. This is followed by discussion of a selection of the measures currently available which target aspects of children’s life in schools, and the advantages and drawbacks of using these in evaluation. Finally, I discuss why it might be advantageous to view school life from the perspective of children’s subjective well-being or ‘happiness’, and review evidence from experimental research, within a positive psychology framework, and particularly the ‘Broaden-and-Build’ Theory of Positive Emotions (Frederickson, 2005). Subsequently, the thematic network, created in Paper 1, was used with four focus groups of the original interviewees, to design items for an instrument to assess subjective satisfaction with school life; what makes them ‘happy’ and ‘ready-to-learn’ in school. The children were included in every step of the design, including; choosing and wording the items (guided by frequency data and the range of topics and themes identified in Study 1), choice of the rating system, instructions for completion and layout, and naming of the instrument (the ‘Ready-to-Learn’ Scale). Following piloting and minor modification, the ‘Ready-to-Learn’ Scale was administered to an opportunity sample of 344 children from the four participating schools over the summer term of 2011. Principal components analysis on the data generated a six factor solution, interpreted as six sub-scales: school competence (α = .81), social competence (α = .80), academic competence (α = .78), distress and discomfort in school (α = .68), environmental support for learning (α = .70), and acceptance and recognition by adults (α = .80), with an overall scale reliability, α = .92, and a 95% confidence interval of 17 (16.72). The scale now requires further validity checks and standardisation, but is offered as a useful instrument for initial engagement with children in this age group.

Almost one quarter of children, by the time they reach 18 years old, will have experienced domestic violence (DV) at some point in their childhood (Bentley et al., 2017). The impact of DV on children can affect the areas of emotional and social development, communication, physical health and learning, in the home and school environments. Rather than being passive witnesses to abuse, children experience it through all of their senses. Despite a wealth of research exploring the areas of DV and the impact on children, there is limited current research in the area of DV in relation to children in education, and teacher perspectives of DV. This research therefore aims to add to the body of literature by exploring the educational experiences of children who have lived with domestic abuse and the views of teachers supporting those children. There were two phases to the research. Phase one involved working with children to explore their views of education and what was important to them, using image-based data collection methods. Phase two explored teacher perspectives of the effects of DV on children and a discussion about the implications of phase one, using a soft systems methodology approach. A visual arts-based methodology was utilised in order to allow children to explore and share their thoughts and feelings in a creative way; to tell their stories, take ownership over their own information and feel empowered to do so through a method of their choosing. The data was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The findings illustrated that children’s experiences of school were centred on six key areas: play, education, identity, relationships, feeling safe and linking the past to the future. Teachers in the study expressed an understanding of DV and the impact on children and families. They described what children think about school and what children need at school. However, there were many barriers and conflicts for teachers in providing such support, and they felt disempowered to enact positive change for those children. Visual methodology allowed for children to express their views in a way that linked the past with the future that helped them navigate the present situation. The implications for educational psychology practice were explored at various levels of working. In particular, with relation to eliciting child voice, supporting schools at a systems level and promoting organisational change.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how a child's rights of speech are taken into account in child welfare investigations. A child's speech or words are not always taken seriously or as important as it should be in the child’s context. This problem has been a major topic of concern both at the national and the international level. Children want their speech of rights to be respected. It is their fundamental right that every human must guarantee to protect these rights to make a better world for future generations. Therefore in order to deeply examine the research topic, the authors used different theoretical approaches like power theory, communication theory and freedom of action. Furthermore the authors gathered more information using semi structure interviews with social workers who work with child welfare investigations. From the interview discussions, the researchers looked for recurrent themes and came with some findings that children are able to express their opinions in child welfare investigations. Children’s visibility and participation in child welfare investigations have improved since BBIC (the child’s needs at the center) has been involved in child welfare investigations. Children´s words or opinions were also ignored. More so, the actual level of how a child´s contribution directly influenced the decision making process was very unclear. The study further shows that social workers are using various communication methods and techniques to adress children's wishes and opinions to provide the best acceptable services. A well-established feedback session is made available in order to gather the children’s opinions and improve on the services.

Background: There is a considerable body of research linking child well-being with future outcomes for children. In recent years monitoring and promoting child well-being has been high on the UK government agenda and has attracted a great deal of theoretical interest. Despite existing research and given the importance of a precise definition, there remains a lack of knowledge about what well-being actually means to children. An independent literature search highlighted that while researchers have made some effort to understand what well-being means to children there are still significant gaps in the literature, including an understanding of how children’s views of well-being vary across different age groups. Participants: Nine participants were selected from three different age groups (four, seven and eleven year olds). The sample included a mix of males and females and all participants were reported to have adequate language skills and none were identified as having special educational needs. Method: This is a purely qualitative study utilising an in depth survey research design. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with each child and each participant was asked to take photographs of and describe artifacts which they considered to be important to their well-being. Analysis/Findings: Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Data analysis was conducted in discrete data sets defined by age group. Then compared across age groups to gain understanding of how children’s views of well-being develop with age. Well-being appeared to be conceptualised as an evaluative judgement which was influenced by well-being domains/factors and emotional experience. The complexity of the children’s evaluative judgements appeared to become increasingly sophisticated with age. The four year olds were found to understand well-being in egocentric terms whereas the seven and eleven year olds seemed to understand well-being in terms of both their own experiences and the experiences of the perceived other. Two specific developmental considerations were identified which influenced the children’s evaluative judgements including individual difference and children’s views regarding their ideal life. In addition to this, the component ‘self-view’ was identified for the eleven year olds. Three domains of well-being were identified which included: ‘my relationships’, ‘my lifestyle and ‘myself’ and the individual factors relating to these domains appeared to vary and increase in complexity with age. The generalisability of these finding is critically considered within the limitations of the research design. Conclusion/Implications: The findings led to the development of an exploratory developmental model of child well-being. Suggestions are made for future research and potential implications for practice are considered.

No description available.

Elever i musikklasser med körinriktning i grundskolan ingår i en lokalt situerad musikkultur som är formad av traditioner med rötter i förra seklets första hälft. I denna tradition har konventioner om sång med barn utvecklats. Undervisning i musikklasser sker i stora grupper men den enskilda eleven internaliserar kunskapen om att sjunga individuellt. Varje elev bidrar med sitt individuella kunnande i musicerande tillsammans med andra. Studiens syfte var därför att belysa enskilda elevers lärande om att sjunga. Deltagarna i studien var musiklärare och elever i en årskurs fyra och en årskurs fem i musikklasser med körinriktning. Data samlades in genom observation och videodokumentation av en körlektion i respektive klass och genom enskilda intervjuer med åtta elever. Data analyserades ur ett kulturpsykologiskt perspektiv med fokus på kulturella redskap. Betydelsen av den individuella musikkulturella inramningens synliggjordes liksom elevernas strävan efter kvalitet. Samstämmighet visade sig mellan elevernas beskrivningar av förutsättningar för lärande, där den viktigaste faktorn som eleverna lyfte fram var möjligheten att få sjunga i ett, för eleven, bekvämt sångläge. Ett övergripande mönster i resultaten var att elever uppmärksammar de kulturella verktyg som distribueras i undervisningen med stor variation. / Students, who attend a special musical training which focus on choral singing and is offered in the Swedish compulsory school (i.e. musikklass in Swedish), are included in a locally situated music culture, which is shaped by traditions from the early twentieth century. In this tradition, conventions relating to singing with children have developed. Teaching choral singing in large groups is common in these music classes. However, students internalize knowledge about singing individually. Therefore, each student contributes his or her expertise about singing in music making together with other singers. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to highlight individual student learning about singing in a large choir group. The participants in this study were two music teachers and 8 students aged 10 an 11 years old who attended music classes with a focus on choral singing. Data were collected by observations and video documentations of one choir lesson in each grade and by interviews with the students. Data were analysed from a culture psychology perspective with a focus on cultural tools. The results showed the importance of the individual music cultural framing as well as the students’ pursuit of quality. Furthermore, the results showed consistency between the students descriptions of prerequisites for learning. The most important prerequisite, according to the students, was the opportunity for them to sing in a comfortable singing mode. Finally, an overall pattern in the results was the variation in how students pay attention to cultural tools distributed to them in choral teaching.

Although there has been increasing research on HIV/AIDS and children, albeit mostly outside the school environment, most research in the area tends to view 'children as objects' (Christensen and James, 1999) in the research process whereby the change in the child is what is being observed. This view lessens the role of the child and as such means that the results are inadequate - mostly the researcher's perspective is represented. In Zimbabwe, with an estimated 1.1 million AIDS orphans and 115,000 children under 14 living with HIV/AIDS, not much empirical research has been conducted in school settings where they spend most of their time; the complexities of infected and affected students' experiences within the school-home-community spheres are mostly inferred due to lack of empirical research. Using Bronfenbrenner's Ecological System's Theory and the Capability Approach to adopt a holistic psychosocio-cultural lens, the research aims to understand the experiences of infected and affected students from their perspectives within their school, home and community environments. Added to observations, in-depth interviews based on data collected using photography, drawings, timelines, sociograms and student diaries were conducted with 65 boys and 27 girls aged 10 -13 years from a rural primary school during the months of August to December 2011. In-depth interviews were also conducted with 161 parents and caregivers. Also interviewed were 13 stakeholders comprising of a Senior Research Officer within the Ministry of Education, District Education Officer, 5 Teachers and their Principal, a District Councilor, the Chief, a village head, a local Baptist Minister and a research staff person from, FACT, a local NGO that works with AIDS orphans. Among children, findings point to dilapidating issues of stigma, abandonment, unaddressed emotional and physical needs; children relied on each other's advice more than that of teachers and caregivers. Among the adult community, the education authorities and community leaders who are custodians of their education, ignorance about infected and affected children is astounding. An ageing population of caregivers is barely able to deal with the complexities of infected children. Religion has a powerful negative influence on addressing HIV/AIDS issues. Teachers, citing taboo issues about sex and the fact that HIV/AIDS is not an exam at the school, refused to broach the subject. Education Officials at the time clearly pointed out that there has been no research nor any plans yet to address this population and their needs. Further research will need to be conducted for educational planning that will be most effective in implementing meaningful changes for this group and other rural primary school children.

No description available.